I’ve been traveling all day and haven’t have had as much time as I would like to check the blogs — or the news. I’m now in Cincinnati with my family and expect to have far less blogging time over the next few days.

I did buy a Wall Street Journal at LAX and have had time to skim the Yahoo! and Huffington Post (AOL) headlines as well as those on Instapundit and other favorite blogs. And as I read about the president insisting on a $1.6 trillion tax hike (on the rich — or so he says), I keep looking for other specific details about his plan to avoid the fiscal cliff.

The press likes to paint House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) as a prisoner of his base. But in fact he was elected by unanimous vote and boldly put a grand bargaining offer on the table. That is far more than Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has done, and much more than the president has done (at least in public). So where are the stories about the left-wing base blocking progress on a deal? I imagine left-leaning media editors and reporters would be flabbergasted by the notion.

Emphasis added. So, Boehner has put an offer on the table. And it doesn’t seem that either Senate Democrats or the president have followed suit.

Perhaps, Rubin is mistaken and the president has put a plan on the table. If you are aware that he has, please provide a link to a blog post/article which provides the details of that plan.

If he hasn’t, how then can he negotiate in good faith when one party has put its cards on the table — and he has not.

13 Comments

This is the real problem.

The democrats and the media have been lying about who is the problem in DC when it comes to legislation.

It isn’t the GOP-or at least it isn’t the GOP house. The GOP house has been working and passing bills. They have passed a budget the last two years-the senate hasn’t passed one since 2009 and the White House mostly disengaged from legislation.

We shouldn’t avoid this so-called ‘fiscal cliff’. The term is meant to frighten people into thinking it’s a problem (and apparently, it works). It’s not a problem, it’s a solution. The U.S. desperately needs massive spending cuts, to avoid the real fiscal cliff that is coming, namely a “Greece Times 100” sovereign debt crisis.

I admit that the automatic defense cuts are bad, but that ship sailed when Obama was re-elected; we’re going to get some bad defense cuts, no matter what. Also the tax hikes are bad and will produce little real new revenue. But the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ is the only way we’re going to get real spending cuts. Whoever comes out on top in the current deal-making, the deal is sure to preserve most spending, ensuring that the real fiscal cliff (when it arrives) will be that much more horrible.

Is it clear to everyone that the “fiscal cliff” is a $110 Billion dollar spending cut from a non-existing “budget” that will have at least $1.4 Trillion in deficit spending? And that the so-called “Stimulus” package was $707 Billion (or $819 Billion according to which CBO figure you choose) and TARP was $700 Billion (or $750 Billion depending on which CBO figure you choose) and $110 Billion is a fiscal cliff?

Wipe out the military entirely. Smash the local economies of every military hosting community. Kill the “horrid” military-industrial complex. Fire all those military people. Shut them down like NASA. Free up all that money to finance the entitlement programs which will be newly enriched with claims from former military and former defense contractors and former pizza parlor owners next to closed bases. Now there is a plan!!!!!

Or, you can have a half-sized military and have it work like the Post Office or Amtrak or NASA or the average public school system.

Entitlements MUST NOT be touched in any way, shape or manner in the “fiscal cliff” scenario. Only the military and a few other little government programs can be subject to spending cutting. That is because wise old Harry Reid and the Dependencycrats know that underfunded and unfunded entitlements are going to skyrocket.

So strange that Bruce and Dan won’t address Jindal’s words, considering the amount of coverage he has received this past week. But, you two must both be so busy with your jobs. Speaking of which, I better hit the road!

And if we were narcissistic sociopaths caught up in a personality cult that worshiped a politician, like the Democrat left, an appeal to authority might persuade us. But because we are intelligent, independent minded people capable of assessing the truth of things for ourselves, we can look at Bobby Jindal’s opinion and say, “Well, that’s Bobby Jindal’s opinion.”

Actually, Cinesnatch, we’re following your rules; since Bobby Jindal criticizes Obama and supported Romney, he is a hatemongering obstructionist treasonous bigot who supports rape, wants to enslave black people, pushes the elderly over cliffs, murdered peoples’ wives, lays off people and sends their jobs to China, and is building death camps for gays and lesbians.

Therefore, why would we — or you, for that matter — care a whit about what he said?

Or is your point that you only care about what Jindal says, or what any other Republican or conservative says, when it can be used in your mind to attack and denigrate Republicans?

This from a contact of mine in the oil bidnizz who lives in Louisiana when our discussion turned to Bobby Jindal,

“He is a superb administrator, but has never had an original idea of his own that was any good.

Upon his election as governor of Louisiana, all the dhimmicrat leaders promptly declared themselves republicans and were immediately appointed to the most powerful positions of state government. They still vote dhimmicrat.

Since then Bobby has flipped off all the conservatives here and has abandoned the conservative radio programs that fought so hard for him.

He deliberately sabotaged his own anti-corruption laws and runs a government more secretive than Huey Long’s.

Why is there so much talk about the need to avoid the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’? The Republicans negotiated the fiscal cliff last year because of the need to cut spending! It seems some conservatives are now scared of cutting spending, even by a small 10% amount. It was Ben Bernanke, a conservative boogeyman for his cash printing policies, who originally coined the term “fiscal cliff” to describe what is mostly cuts. Getting rid of the fiscal cliff is just putting off what is necessary and causing a much larger cliff later.

A few other comments:
Someone commenting at #4.) said that entitlements shouldn’t be touched. Actually, entitlements are the biggest problem contributing to deficits. They make up 70% of spending. Of course they have to be cut. If they aren’t cut, they will just go bankrupt, as Medicare and Social Security are currently on track to go bankrupt, so they will end up being cut 100% by default.

Also, as for Bobby Jindal, he seems to have a good record as governor, and his comments about repositioning the GOP are right on, so he should be given real consideration if and when he runs for higher office.